You’ve Paid for the Sickness, Now Pay for the Cure!
It’s Tax Day again. Time to give a little to Uncle Sam for all that he has given us: schools, roads, social security, health care, national security—and discrimination.
Yep, that’s right. Our hard-earned money is being used every day to discriminate against our own countrymen and women.
Every day, the U.S. government fires two people for being lesbian, gay or bisexual. They do it through the only law—local, state or national—that sanctions discrimination. This law is “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and our tax-dollars pay for it—at a tune of at least $364 million since 1993.
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has been responsible for the discharge of more than 10,000 men and women from the Armed Services because it mandates the firing of lesbian, gay or bisexual service members. It’s a stupid law that wrecks lives, ruins careers, mocks America’s commitment to civil rights, wastes money and compromises our safety.
With this law, our government makes U.S. tax payers—you and me—to pay for their discriminatory practices. Many Americans have taxes withdrawn from every paycheck and don’t think about the moral implications of how their tax dollars are spent.
For the more than 900 service members who were discharged last year alone, the very taxes that were taken from their paychecks helped pay for their removal from service and the loss of that paycheck.
This is unforgivable!
Join me and by using your tax- refund money to fight their bigotry. Use it to support SLDN. Help us repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Help us take our fight to the Supreme Court. Help us provide free legal services to service members caught in its trap.
SLDN doesn’t get a penny from the government. Not one penny. The federal government won’t fund the fight against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” But you can!
SLDN has responded to each of the more than 8,000 calls for assistance—many from service members anonymously serving on the frontlines in Iraq—only because faithful Americans contribute generously in support of our work. Join them—and me—with a gift of your own. Help us counter-balance the $364 million that the government has already spent.
By making a donation to SLDN, you could even reduce your tax burden next year! SLDN is a tax-exempt, 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and as such, all donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. What this could mean for you is that the more money you contribute, the fewer taxes you might have to pay—and the less money the government has to use against the more than 65,000 lesbian, gay and bisexual service members actively serving right now!
Just as the government needs a steady flow of income to keep our country going, SLDN needs a steady flow of income to keep us going. Put your money to especially good use this year by choosing to help every month by joining Roll Call, our monthly giving program.
With your support, SLDN will continue to offer free legal services to men and women in uniform . . . continue to work with Congress on repeal of this archaic and unfair law . . . and continue to speak out on behalf of service members silenced by “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
In addition to your financial support, there are other things you can do to help SLDN achieve our goal of an open and inclusive Armed Forces. You can:
- Join Frontlines, SLDN’s online action center, and invite your friends, family and colleagues to do the same.
- Fly both and American flag and a rainbow flag when observing national holidays like Memorial Day, Independence Day and Veterans Day.
- In observance of Memorial Day, send your local Veterans Service Organization a card in memory of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender service members who served and sacrificed for our country.
- In November, send your local Veterans Service Organization a Veterans Day card in honor of the more than 1,000,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender veterans who served in the U.S. Armed Forces.
- Write a letter to the editor of your newspaper telling them that qualified lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans are denied the opportunity to serve our country at a time when the military can’t meet basic recruitment goals.
Remember, no organization provides the kind of help that SLDN does—and we do it without the help of a single government dollar.
- Polly StamatopoulosLabels: events, support, Tax Day
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